Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Jon Kabat-Zin and the Viking Invasions

The following post began as a series of comments under Desperate Housewives Jumps the Shark. However, I thought few readers would see the comments there, so I decided to post them as a separate entry. Feel free to comment on any aspect. Doc.

Ralph: So, what have you been doing for kicks? I've become intrigued by the Viking invasions of England from about 500-1000 A.D. and have been doing some research on them...

Mike: I've been doing a lot of reading and meditating. I've been able to move to the next level of my meditation...this means my level of perception has changed and increased.

The more I do, the easier it becomes, and easier meditation means that things in life become easier. But I still have to put in the TIME in order to gain the results, so there’s still a lot of effort involved.

Time and focused meditation, along with Starbuck's, it the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

I managed to find a book on CD called, “Wherever You Go, There You Are,” by a dude named Zin. He rocks.

Ralph: Anyone named Zin...well, he should rock. Glad to hear the thoughts are going well. While I understand the power of meditation, the concept of life becoming "easier" is not one that I can readily grasp. As a heads up, I'd like to say, I've adopted Job's motto, which is also phrased quite eloquently by Nickelback: "Something's gotta go wrong,'cuz I'm feelin' way too damn good."

Cheers.

Mike: Gotcha. Well, it’s not so much “easier," because first of all, you have to put in the time. But maybe I want to say something like "more focused"...kind of a Zen "less is more" idea. You and I have spoken of this before: work smarter, not harder. I'm finding a lot of this richness at this point.

Also: I find that, as I age, I become less physic and more spirit. As a result, I am less and less consumed by worldly things. Therefore, I don't feel the pressure to work so much to have so much. I've been released from the bondage of material things (except, of course, for the basic requirements: home, car food, and Starbuck's).

I also found that the removal of alcohol from my life has made things easier to manage because I'm not fighting myself so much. In videogame language, I was able to increase one psychic level simply as a result of putting the bottle down.

Finally, I've found I've reached the point where the thoughts and visions of my heart translate quite readily into reality, which is amazing. As a result, I worry very little about anything these days because I understand that I really don't have anything to worry about. We seem to be caught in patterns that we have very little control over, and while we can’t alter them radically, we are also held in their benevolent grasp.

Tell me more about the Viking Invasions (or the Minnesota Vikings). It doesn't matter to me.

DocTorDee

2 comments:

Ralph said...

DoktorD:
I'm down with you on the setiment about being caught up in patterns that we have little control over it. Your decision to let these patterns go and ride the waves and enjoy Viking invastions as much as football is very Eastern-Centric I think. Very Ying, perhaps. The Western-Centric believe is probably that you can help sway these patterns, even if you can't control them, you can influence them effectively for your own aims. I'd have to say I'm caught up in the Western style of thought right now, which is probably why I often end up in despair about the fortunes that be... Of course, I just got done watching a movie - clearly made by Western thinkers - so I may be under the influence of that as well. Probably the biggest thing I got out of Gladwell's The Tipping Point, had to do with the incredibly large impact one's immediate environment has on their behavior.

Cheers.

Ralph said...

Please excuse my spelling and grammar.

R